Things are starting to change, thanks in part to Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's (RTC) more than 20 years of advocacy and coalition building in Florida, and a dedicated community of local planners and advocates. This month, work began on a multi-use pathway alongside the Courtney Campbell Causeway, passing over Old Tampa Bay and connecting Clearwater in Pinellas County with Tampa in Hillsborough County.

In St. Clair County, Ill., on the outskirts of St. Louis, Mo., the county transit district continues to extend its heralded MetroBikeLink Trail, a paved, multi-use trail that provides a fast and efficient connection from local neighborhoods to the metro stations.

Eventually my eyes opened to Kentucky's gorgeous and dynamic landscapes. Now, there's nothing more majestic to me than a foggy morning bicycle ride past pristine horse farms nestled on a winding country road. Even the horses seem to embrace the beauty of their pastures as they trot around and whinny.

Perhaps it will come as no surprise that plans are in the works to add an additional 65 miles to the East Coast Greenway just this year alone. The proposed greenway itself is quite ambitious: a trail stretching nearly 3,000 miles from Maine to Florida.

One can imagine the collective Hoosier hooray when the final leg of the Cardinal Greenway was put in place last summer. The rail corridor for Indiana's longest and long-awaited rail-trail was purchased nearly 20 years ago and now offers 62 miles of smooth, inviting blacktop spanning five counties in east-central Indiana.

Residents were so eager for the Columbus Fall Line Trace to open, they started trying to use it while still under construction, says Rick Jones, planning director for the city of Columbus. Happily, the 11-mile rail-trail in southwest Georgia opened for official use late last fall and was immediately popular.

Ever since the first leg of the Bayshore Bikeway in San Diego Bay, Calif. was built in 1976, this much-loved pathway has been an integral part of life in this city. Looping around San Diego Bay, this pathway has been the catalyst for the growth in walking and biking in this sunny, seaside community, serving residents and commuters as well as it does tourists and Sunday strollers.

This coming Saturday, February 25, the residents of Volusia County will celebrate a significant milestone in their remarkable trail-building schedule with the opening of the first segment of the much-heralded East Central Regional Rail Trail.